Question: Why did the ancient priests of Egypt study astrology so thoroughly? (Vol. II, #115)
Answer: Why, the whole fate of humanity is bound up in the stars. It doesn't
matter whether we go to our own Bible or the textbook of any other religion.
Everywhere we shall find that the stars are given a most prominent place. In
our own Bible we know that they are called the Seven Spirits before the
Throne. They are the seven Star Angels as known particularly to the Catholic
church; the Seven Planetary Spirits that have had to do with our evolution
ever since humanity began to evolve on this planet. Therefore, naturally the
course of the stars and their configurations are time markers in the history
of humanity.
We hear Pythagoras speak of the music of the spheres. Most people think that
a poetical expression. It is not; it is a fact. Anywhere we go we shall find
there is a sound distinct from the sounds of other places. The rustle of the
trees when the wind is blowing, the babbling brooks, all have peculiar sounds.
No two brooks will give the same sound. Musicians who have a trained ear can
hear the difference. If we go into a city there is a conglomerate noise, but
all that noise blends into the tone of the city. The composite of all the
sounds all over the world, the rustle of the winds in the trees, and all the
noises are heard in space as a certain single tone — the tone of the Earth.
These stellar orbs travel around, as is well known to astrologers, but not
in a circle. They don't stay in one order, but come into different
configurations with one another. The same is true of the seven tones in the
octave, which are the replica of the Seven Planetary Spirits. Just as they can
be brought into different connections and make different chords, so also these
different tones of the worlds that are moving through space make up the
harmony of the spheres, and according to the change in these vibrations
humanity is evolving. There is a different vibration every single moment of
time, and as a new being comes into existence, these varying vibrations act
upon him and make him different from all others. Therefore he has a certain
fate.
It is the same in the microcosm and the macrocosm, the little world and the
big world. We all have to do with the stars. Everyone is bound up with the
stars, without them there is nothing done or made. That is why the ancient
priests of Egypt who knew, took up that phase of religion. That is why they
studied astrology so thoroughly, and the day will come when a great many more
people will study it. The science of astrology will be revived when we grow
wiser.
Neptune, The Octave
of Mercury
Question: Why do you call Neptune the higher octave of Mercury? (Vol. II,
#118)
Answer: Mercury is usually associated with reason and intelligence; to him is
ascribed rule over the nervous system, which is the medium of transmission
between the embodied Spirit and the world without. Thus, as Neptune signifies
the sub- and superhuman intelligences who live and move in the spiritual
realms of the universe, but who work with and upon us, so Mercury indicates
the human intelligence focused upon the terrestrial physical world wherein we
live from birth to death. Therefore, it may be said that Neptune is the octave
of Mercury, but there is a deeper sense.
Reference to a textbook of anatomy or physiology will show that lengthwise
fissures in the spinal cord divide it into three parts, which enclose a hollow
tube. Each of these columns is ruled by one of the Hierarchies in closest
touch with us, the lunar, martial, or mercurial, predominating, according to
the stage in evolution of the individual. In the spinal canal the rays of
Neptune kindle the spinal spirit fire whereby the human spirit is enabled to
pierce the veil of flesh and contact the worlds beyond. This vision is colored
according to the column of the cord most actively excited.
In the childhood days of mankind the creative force which is now turned
outwards to build ships, houses, railways, telephones, etc., was used inwardly
to build the organs of our body, and as the surrounding physical world is
photographed upon the table of a camera obscura, so the spiritual world is
reflected in the spinal canal. There man beheld first the lunar God, Jehovah,
whose Angels were then his tutors. Later, Angels who had fallen behind the
standard of their compeers, and whose evolutionary requirements were therefore
different, forced entrance to the spinal cord of man. The spiritual inner
vision of mankind faded when "their eyes were opened and they saw they were
naked."
Then they lost touch with the higher self. They saw only the person, and the
docile creature of Jehovah was soon transformed to a savage and a brute under
the impulse of the Lucifer Spirits, the hierarchy of Mars. However, by their
promptings man has also learned to conquer material obstacles, to build
outwardly and become architect of the world. To counteract the unmitigated
selfishness bred by the martial Angels and to make mankind humane, our Elder
Brothers from Mercury, human like ourselves, whose high state of evolution
required the higher vibration generated and prevailing in close proximity to
the Sun, were required to invest the spinal cord of mankind also. Through
their labors civilization has taken on a different form. Mankind is again
beginning to look inwards, and when the mercurial ray meets the ray of Neptune
in the spinal canal, man finds again his higher self — the Christ is born
within.
Thus there is a connection between the Moon, Mercury, and Neptune. Those who
come in touch with Neptune through the Moon may become irresponsible mediums,
victims of obsession, etc., but where Mercury is the gate, reason and
understanding guide the aspiring Spirit. An afflicted Mercury may sometimes
tempt seekers to enter by the wrong door, and mental trouble may result. If
aware of the danger, however, continual care and persistence usually unlock
the door of the temple, for the good forces are in the ascendancy now and grow
stronger as time passes.
The Use of Astrology
in Training Children
Question: In training children it is advised that parents get an astrological
reading of the child's potentialities so as to inhibit detrimental tendencies
and strengthen the beneficent. Does this pay? Is it not necessary and
ultimately beneficial for the child to pass through the so-called adverse
moods and experiences? Will not the spiritual nature be stronger when they are
overcome? Is not acquired virtue better than innocence or purity through
evasion? (Vol. II, #120)
Answer: No, we do not advise parents to get an astrological reading for their
children. We advise them to study astrology for themselves so as to be able to
study and read their children's horoscopes. We do this because although
strange astrologers, professional or otherwise, may be much more competent to
read the children's horoscopes than the parents, they lack the keen vital
interest and the sympathy which will intuitively guide the parent to a much
better understanding of what is contained in that little figure than ever an
outsider can.
The parent will have a much keener appreciation of what is shown in the
child's horoscope when he has to dig it out for himself and sees it there in
symbolic form, than when it is simply put down for him ready to read on a
typewritten page, for he or she will then be much better fitted and qualified
by a deeper insight to help the child foster the good tendencies and avoid the
pitfalls shown by the bad.
Now our correspondent asks does this pay. Is the child not going to be much
better off by just simply wading through the mire and blundering along than by
avoiding the pitfalls that are shown? Surely not. What would we think of a
captain of a ship who set out on a voyage without either chart or compass
because he thought it would be far better to learn by experience than to avoid
the rocks and shoals already charted by others? We should call him a foolhardy
man, and be surprised if he did not put his ship on the rocks and smash it to
pieces. If every one refused to take the experience of others as contained in
books and the general knowledge now available in the world, how limited would
be the experience of each! All the world would commit the same blunders over
and over again. We find the same thing in our colleges as compared with the
manually trained mechanics. The boy who goes into a shop and learns only by
practice what work is done there may become fairly proficient in his trade
during the time another spends in a technical school, but once the technical
student has graduated and entered the shop, he not only quickly catches up
with the man who has learned only by experience, but soon passes him and goes
to the top. Such is the universal experience in all parts and departments of
life, that by adding the practical experience of others contained in books and
taught in schools to our experience we acquire a vast amount of knowledge that
could not be obtained in any other way.
It is the same in the school of life with respect to ethics and morals. If
someone who is interested in us knows just at what point we fall short, is
able to supply the needed training or encourage us to train ourselves in that
particular branch of morals and ethics, or is ready to help and restrain us
when we would rush headlong into a pit, he may help us acquire the same
faculties and qualities in a different way than would be the case if we were
left to our own devices and forced to learn by experience. Thus we shall be
able to advance upon the path of evolution much better than if we had to learn
through our own sin and suffering.
If we see in the horoscope of a little child a tendency toward
drunkenness,
and we take it during its years of childhood when the nature is sympathetic
and sensitive, to places where others are making beasts of themselves, to
homes where children are being beaten by a drunken father, and to any other
place where an object lesson that will appeal to the sympathies of the child
may be had, the chances are that we may instill in such a little one a horror
for drink that will last throughout life and keep it on the straight path so
far as that vice is concerned. Then the child has learned the lesson equally
as well by the sorrows of others as if it had to go through the mire itself,
and the object has been attained.
Besides, the parent or guardian who has done the child such a wonderful
service will have laid up for himself a treasure in heaven that is precious
beyond all that words can express. Therefore we shall continue to urge parents
and guardians to study the science of astrology and apply it in the training
of children. By our simplified system it is easy to do the mathematical part,
nor is the reading difficult when love points the way.
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